Hyderabad: Flouting safety norms at will

Shop owners say they are helpless as crowds care a hoot for their safety. On their part, businessmen keep shops sanitised well and wear masks

Hyderabad: Citizens seem to be lulled into lackadaisical attitude about taking care of themselves, even as governments throwing ball into their courts to keep themselves fit and keep off the deadly Coronavirus. As the government lifted lockdown, they are under impression that situation is getting normal and that they need not worry over them or others wearing face masks and keeping social distancing. They are happily crowding market places and roaming freely in the streets.

That Hyderabad continues to be a hotspot for Covid infections bothers them the least, one can say for sure.

Several markets in city including Jagdish Market in Abids, Gujrati Galli in Kothi, Troop Bazar, Begum Bazar etc., are teeming with people mingling and not following safety norms including social distancing. They are seen purchasing goods in close contact and some without face masks.

Vehicle parking places are crammed and traffic snarls are becoming ubiquitous as before, in the pre-Covid days. According to the shop owners in Abids mobile shopping center, every shop is following safety norms including sanitising, face masks, social distancing etc., but it is the customers who are acting with nonchalance and flouting the norms.

Crowds can be seen despite the shops advising the public to keep apart from one another. "Though market follows several safety measures, the decision rests in the hands of citizens to obey the norms and safeguard themselves. All we can do is, tell them to wear masks and maintain distance," said a helpless Umair Khan, owner of Strawberry mobile store and president of Abids Shopping Centre Mobile Merchant Association. It is a wholesale market and customers from around the city visit it for purchasing spare parts, accessories and for repairs.

Meanwhile, to stop the spread of virus in Begum Bazar, the Hyderabad Kirana Merchant Association has decided to run their shops from 9 am to 3 pm. This decision is taken keeping in view the increasing rise of positive cases in the city, said Sri Laxmi Narayan Rathi, president of Hyderabad Kirana Merchant Association.

Police officials say they are doing their bit to create and promote awareness among customers and in markets about the stringent safety norms to be followed. They are also slapping challans on shops for not enforcing the rules. Vehicles are not being seized but challaned, said G Sudhakar, Traffic Inspector, Abids.